There is a need in the industry for a battery pack for use with an AED. Preferably, the battery pack should have the following characteristics. The battery pack should be removably coupled to the AED. When coupled to the AED, the battery pack should be held semi-rigidly in place such that virtually no relative motion occurs between the battery pack and the AED. Additionally, the battery pack should be held securely in place once joined to the AED so that it is very unlikely that the battery pack will become inadvertently disengaged from the AED.
An AED typically uses integral batteries to power various electronic components of the AED and to generate the very high voltages necessary for shocking a patient. The AED has the capability of delivering very high voltage impulses to a stricken patient. Such voltages may exceed 2,000 volts. The high voltages are typically developed from the relatively low voltage battery by charging a capacitor bank prior to delivery of the shock to the patient. Removal of the battery pack from the AED removes power from the electronic components that provide control to the capacitor bank. If the battery is removed from the AED when the capacitors are charged to the high voltage, there is no control remaining over the ultimate discharge of the capacitors. Accordingly, in addition to the aforementioned characteristics, there is a need to sense the imminent removal of the battery from the AED and, while there is still power to the various electronic components and control remaining, to safely discharge the capacitors.